Peace or Dignity

Clang! Inside the dimly lit lecture hall under the faint starlight, the multimedia lectern had been gouged through, and bolted-down seats were blasted into splinters. The two figures dancing wildly in combat resembled a destructive tempest ravaging the academy! Yaxiu flicked two short swords from his sleeves. With a casual grip of her hand, Vichy manifested a flame halberd that looked as if forged from molten lava. The instant they clashed, the erupting scythe-like gale and roaring flame were fierce enough to rip through the shadows! The two mythically styled, artistic short swords Yaxiu held were by no means legendary weapons, but rather toys Rose had bought for him at the shopping mall. After his battle with Dead Frenzy Niya, Yaxiu had realized he needed weapons for self-defense. However, Jiashe's public security and his own social status clearly made carrying restricted bladed weapons impractical. Still, two unsharpened toy short swords were more than enough to serve as lethal instruments in his hands. Or perhaps, mediums for casting miracles! The instant he encountered Vichy, Yaxiu boldly activated a new miracle built with the Substitute sorcery spirit as its core, supported by various sorcery spirits including Heart Sword, Affection Sword, Earth Sword, Sword Mark, Wind Sword, and Singular Affection... Sword Retainer! This was a new miracle Yaxiu had been conceiving ever since he was in the Sanctuary tier. He had consulted Sonia, Diya, Youlan Weise, Igola, Harvey, and even Tamashi about it. Yet it had remained in the conceptual stage. More importantly, he had been unable to adapt this concept into a long-range combat miracle, and since he usually took on a ranged tactical role, the miracle had been shelved. To be honest, this miracle was indeed wasteful for his current tactical system. "Heart Pen" was a ranged swordsmanship style he could continue honing even into the Legendary tier; his Legendary ultimate technique ought to be "Splashing Ink Heart Pen"—altering the colors of heaven and earth with a single thought, erasing enemies like a painter with a brush. However, Yaxiu felt he needed some close-quarters combat capability no matter what, and even more importantly, he simply really liked this miracle concept of his. Empowered by the Sword Retainer miracle, Yaxiu's perception, reaction speed, and explosive power surged across the board. In his hands, the two short swords became a raging squall, celestial thunder and earthly fire, a charging legion of thousands! Yet the enhancement effect was merely the least significant passive primary effect of the Sword Retainer miracle. Suddenly, Yaxiu heard a roar resonate in his soul. Under the influence of the Singular Affection sorcery spirit, the Substitute sorcery spirit had finally transformed. The Substitute sorcery spirit, which had always appeared clad in pajamas, turned completely blood-red. Then, the Heart Sword, Affection Sword, Earth Sword, Wind Sword, and Sword Mark spirits immediately gathered around it and lifted it up, becoming its torso, right hand, left hand, left foot, and right foot! Simultaneously, an Observer phantom clad in a blood-colored robe materialized beside Yaxiu. Letting out a furious roar, the phantom raised a massive greatsword with both hands and slashed down toward Vichy! This was the true might of the miracle Sword Retainer—summoning a Sword Retainer to destroy the enemy! The core of the Sword Retainer miracle was not a swordsmanship sorcery spirit, but the Substitute sorcery spirit. That was because Yaxiu had never dreamed of becoming a Sword Saint who unified the world with a single blade; he preferred being an Observer who relied on a substitute stand to suppress all defiance! However, the Substitute's inherent combat ability was strictly locked to mortal limits. Ever since the One-Wing tier, Yaxiu had been pondering how to grant it combat prowess, but he had only gained some clarity after his swordsmanship realm reached the Sanctuary tier. The Sword Retainer's greatsword pierced straight through Vichy's Sanctuary. Her flame halberd was too slow to pull back for defense, leaving her to watch helplessly as her sinful life seemed about to come to an end right here! "Very... interesting!" With a savage grin, Vichy clenched her fist. The flame halberd instantly dissolved to ash, transforming into a blazing tower shield that blocked the Sword Retainer's violent slash! "The fury of the swordsmanship faction, the illusoriness of the mind faction, and even a hint of the necromancy faction's subjugation... This is an approach even I never saw several thousand years ago." Vichy waved her right hand, and the tower shield shifted back into a flame halberd. Leaping onto a desk, she crouched low, gripping the shaft with both hands. Strands of her hair ignited with faint flames, her face filled with appreciation. "Though still raw, it already shows extraordinary potential. What is it called?" "Sword Retainer," Yaxiu replied, holding his twin swords in a reverse grip as he took advantage of the lull to activate the Golden Fish Rainbow Tail Colorless Dream secret poison, replenishing his sword-colored sorcery power. "What a garbage name." Vichy's voice turned low and cruel. "After you die, I'll continue researching along your line of inquiry. From then on, it'll be named Spectre Sword Retainer. Doesn't that sound much better? "Still, I'll give you a choice right now," she said, her tone suddenly turning genial. "Peace or dignity?" "What do you mean?" "Peace means living on as my slave. Dignity means dying to become my slave." Vichy chuckled. "I'm more than willing to respect your wishes." "Aside from fire and your Sanctuary, you don't seem to be using any other sorcery spirits," Yaxiu said coldly. "May I assume that when you were reborn with the help of the Fire Cat god, you couldn't take a single sorcery spirit with you? Are the only means at your disposal right now the flames inherent to the Fire Cat god's true body?" "Bluffing is useless against me. Today is the day you die." "Ha." Vichy flashed a sweet smile. "I foresaw long ago that I would eventually be defeated by someone, but that day is not today, and that person... won't be you!" Bang! The air detonated beneath the razor-sharp flame halberd. In an instant, dozens of violent clashes erupted, the piercing shockwaves shattering the classroom windows one after another! "Where is your Sword Retainer?!" Vichy's hair was nearly ablaze as her flame halberd bombarded him like thunder. "You can't kill me with just those two little daggers! Could it be... that your Sword Retainer can't be triggered at will, or perhaps its cooldown is exceptionally long?" Yaxiu's expression darkened completely. She had hit the mark. The Heart Sword was the Substitute's most direct combat power, and the Wind Sword allowed the Substitute to camouflage as air and penetrate Sanctuaries, but the Affection Sword was the crucial key that allowed the Substitute to materialize as a phantom. Truth be told, Yaxiu's natural talent was not yet sufficient to command his sorcery spirits with flawless precision; he simply could not construct a complete Sword Retainer ritual. To borrow Yaxiu's own analogy, he was like an incompetent boss with a brilliant idea who only lacked an army of obedient programmers to bring his vision to life. The purpose of the Affection Sword was to make the sorcery spirits obedient. If Yaxiu's talent couldn't complete the Sword Retainer ritual, he would let the spirits complete it themselves. Under the influence of the Affection Sword, the Substitute would spontaneously carry out the ritual, transforming into a phantom Sword Retainer to crush enemies just as Yaxiu envisioned. But the cost was that the frequency of the Sword Retainer's appearance depended entirely on the Substitute's subjective initiative. Keep in mind that Affection Sword and Singular Affection were meant to be used on people, or at worst on animals. Getting these two spirits to work on the Substitute sorcery spirit was only possible because Yaxiu possessed a Gold-tier mind faction. Even so, after executing the ritual once, the Substitute sorcery spirit was so exhausted that it fainted dead away, with no telling when it would wake. If Yaxiu wanted phantom Sword Retainers to appear continuously, he would have to raise his swordsmanship and mind faction realms even higher before he could possibly conceive a better ritual. But at this very moment, he could only pray for the Substitute spirit to hurry up, wake up, and work overtime. If you don't step it up, your master is going to be hung from a lamppost by the Spectre Prophet! Run! Yaxiu was slammed into the wall by the flame halberd, the searing flames burning through his chest in an instant. Fortunately, his Joy Sword immediately took effect to heal the wound, but Vichy gave him no breathing room at all, leaping into midair to bring her weapon crashing down! Sure enough, he was no match for her. Although he was at a disadvantage, Yaxiu felt no panic in his heart. He had known from the start that if the Sword Retainer failed to instantly obliterate this ancient scumbag with its first strike, his defeat would only be a matter of time. There was no other reason: the gap in combat experience was simply far too immense. At the end of the day, Yaxiu had been a sorcerer for less than a year. Even if he could convert sword-colored sorcery power via secret poisons and barely scrape the threshold of Legendary combat power, he was ultimately just a novice. And Vichy? Counting this rebirth, she was living her third life. Her time as a sorcerer exceeded a thousand years, her battles numbered in the tens of thousands, and she had killed more people than Yaxiu had ever seen. She had once been the symbol of terror for an entire era, and almost any sorcery faction she practiced was at the Legendary level. As long as Yaxiu failed to crush this bastard on the first strike, she could swiftly seize control of the combat rhythm and even decipher all of his combat routines—Vichy was a prophecy sorcerer, after all! Yaxiu could already feel that no matter how he resisted, Vichy easily saw through his thoughts and suppressed him. This injury was clear proof: even though Yaxiu had maintained his Sanctuary the entire time, he had still been heavily wounded by a single strike of Vichy's halberd, precisely because she had abruptly heated the air to trigger a flame explosion inside his Sanctuary. She was already skilled enough to effortlessly pummel Yaxiu right through his Sanctuary! If Vichy hadn't lost the vast majority of her sorcery spirits and retained only her authority over fire, Yaxiu would have been finished off long ago. The colossal difference in realm between a newcomer to Legendary power and a peak, consummate demigod was more than enough to overwhelm what little resource advantage Yaxiu had. But Yaxiu wasn't afraid at all, because... Whoosh! Yaxiu suddenly scrambled out the window and bolted down the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him. That's right—so what if he couldn't win? He could still run! This wasn't the outside world. The Country of Stars was constrained by the mysterious chains; if Vichy dared chase him, she could just wait to have her sorcery power evaporated by mortal witnesses! Sure enough, Vichy burst out in pursuit, brandishing her flame halberd and roaring after him, "Weren't you acting cocky just now? Coward!" "You actually dare attack one of Jiashe's Top Ten Outstanding Youths, Yaxiu Heath?! You're finished! There's nowhere between heaven and earth for you to run, and no one can save you—I guarantee it!" Yaxiu laughed loudly. "I'm going to notify the Police Department right now and broadcast your wanted poster around the clock! You're dead meat!" "Humph. You're actually counting on the mortals here?" Hearing Vichy's response, Yaxiu felt a surge of joy—could this piece of trash not know about the mysterious chains? If that's the case... Yaxiu hesitated no longer. He vaulted out a window and dashed toward the illuminated laboratory building. As long as he drew other people over and let them witness Vichy displaying sorcerer powers with their own eyes, he could knock the Spectre Prophet straight down into mortality! At the thought of this bastard being forcibly demoted from an overbearing sorcerer back into a powerless mortal, Yaxiu felt his thirst for vengeance burning hotter! Right at that moment, a blazing fireball shot past from behind him. Yet the fireball wasn't aimed at Yaxiu—it flew straight toward the distant laboratory building. Boom! As flames billowed upward, nearly half of the laboratory building was blown away, the searing fireball melting its exterior walls. Screams pierced the night sky, but the dense smoke rising from the fire blew downward in an eerie fashion, blanketing the sports field between the laboratory building and the multi-purpose building, cutting off the multi-purpose building from the outside world. The massive flame halberd slammed heavily into the ground right in front of Yaxiu. Vichy then landed atop the halberd, looking down at him from her height of one and a half meters. "Surprised?" Vichy asked leisurely. "Wondering why the mysterious chains haven't locked down my sorcery power?" Yaxiu tightened his grip on the short swords and replied coldly, "The unity of subjective intent and objective fact?" "Precisely," the Spectre Prophet chuckled. "Those mortals must recognize that the supernatural event was caused by a 'supernatural entity' before the mysterious chains of the Country of Stars activate to lock down us sorcerers, just as they locked down the angels. "In other words, as long as we make sure there are no witnesses, or quickly kill all witnesses, we can still unleash the majority of our sorcerer powers." "Since you know about the angels and the chains," Yaxiu took a deep breath, "it seems you didn't wander in here by accident after all. "You came to investigate the university... to search for the angel suspect, Dead Frenzy, as well?" Vichy smiled. "Didn't you mention just now that you're a celebrity here in the Country of Stars? "Tell me, if someone discovers this place trampled by a monster, and then you show up right here, do you think they'll connect the supernatural event to you?" The moment the Spectre Prophet finished speaking, blazing white flames surged from her body. The violent outpouring of heat began to ignite even the asphalt ground! Her hair turned into snow-white fire, and her clothes fluttered like dancing flames! Just as Yaxiu had consciously suppressed his power to avoid being detected, Vichy hadn't gone all out inside the classroom either! Although she had lost all her sorcery spirits, she had inherited nearly all the power of the Knowing and Guarding Fire god! "I'll ask you one more time," Vichy said, exhaling a puff of white fire. "Peace or dignity?" Yaxiu did not speak. He silently fell into a sword stance, answering with his actions. At that critical juncture, the crisp clatter of a falling mop suddenly echoed from the second floor of the multi-purpose building. Although nothing was visible from where they stood, how could two sorcerers with their senses heightened to the limit fail to hear footsteps? Vichy's expression changed abruptly. Retracting all her flames in an instant, she bypassed Yaxiu and bolted straight into the multi-purpose building. Yaxiu naturally understood her reasoning: their sorcery power hadn't evaporated yet most likely because the bystander thought they were filming a movie and didn't believe they possessed real supernatural abilities. But once the bystander realized the truth and subjective perception aligned with objective reality, the mysterious chains would lock them both down and crush their foundations as sorcerers! Therefore, killing the bystander took priority over everything else—even a life-or-death feud like Yaxiu and Vichy's had to be set aside for the moment! This was also why Yaxiu hadn't moved immediately to stop Vichy. In that split second, the exact same thought had unbiddenly crossed his mind—kill all onlookers to protect himself from being discovered by the mysterious chains. "I wonder who had the misfortune to stumble into this," Yaxiu muttered, looking up at the second floor of the multi-purpose building. On the second floor, a blonde female student sat huddled against the corridor wall, her heart pounding wildly as she replayed everything she had just witnessed. "Isn't that Yaxiu Heath?" she murmured. "Are they shooting a movie?"